Last week: Reunert invests, Idion targeted again

EMC`s acquisition of Documentum and the sell-out of Inmarsat to a UK consortium dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

At home, the re-emergence of DataMirror as an Idion suitor and Reunert`s investment in CS Holdings stole much of the local headline ICT space.

* we saw a full-year loss from Cycad (no revenue figures);

* good interim results from Synergy (revenue and profit both up);

* satisfactory interim numbers from IST (revenue up a little but earnings well up);

* mediocre interim figures from Altron (revenue and attributable earnings down);

* an interim loss from Jasco Electronics (revenue also down);

* a negative profit warning from Labat Africa;

* the JSE`s annotation of the shares of EC-Hold and MGX for failure to timeously submit their provisional reports;

* the suspension of DNA`s shares; and

* the termination of the Softline listing (although there is no evidence that this has happened).

Other local news included:

* First Technology established an imaging solutions company;

* the issuing of a qualified audit review on Global Technology`s interim results;

* DataMirror`s notification that its recently acquired shareholding in Idion is "rapidly approaching" the "5% level", which would trigger a mandatory offer in terms of the SRC`s requirements; and

* the appointment of Rodney de Koch as CEO of ICOZA.

* New local distributorships included that of Comztek for Phoenix Software, Corex IT Distribution Dynamics for Asus, Rectron for Transcend Information, SA Mobile Technologies for liyama and Workgroup for Network Associates.

* we saw the name changes of AOL Time Warner to Time Warner and Intasys to Mamma.com;

* shareholders adopted a liquidation plan for StorageNetworks;

* Deutsche Telekom sold off its 24.8% stake in Philippine`s Globe Telecom; and

an offer by LG Group and Carlyle Group for Hanaro Telecom.

Additionally, look out for EDS`s possible spin-off of its Product Lifecycle Management Solutions subsidiary, and the outcome of the battle involving Vodacom`s entry into the Nigerian market.

Look out for the outcome of the battle involving Vodacom`s entry into the Nigerian market.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

Other international news included:

* the appointments of Douglas Catalano as interim CEO of enherent, Mike Endry as president and CEO of Hyperspace Comms, Dan Gannon as CEO of Hop-on, Kevin Hickey as president and CEO of NetPro Computing, and Martin Morgan as CEO of Sanborn;

* the resignation of Steven Laub as president of Lattice Semiconductor;

* the retirement of Doug Barre as COO of Borland;

* the death of Robert Napier, CIO of HP; and

* a job loss announcement from Oracle.

We saw excellent* figures from Boston Comms Group, eBay, First Derivatives, SanDisk, Ultratech and Voxware (back in the black); and very good* numbers from Cognex, Cree, Insignia Solutions (back in the black), Interphase (back in the black), iPass, Sony Ericsson (back in the black), TranSwitch (back in the black) and WebEx.

Good figures* were recorded by Applied Innovations (back in the black), Apple (back in the black), Aprisma Management Technologies, Avid, Avocent (back in the black), EMC, First Data, Intel, Ixia, Lexar Media, Linear Technology, Network Equipment Technologies, Nextel, Optika, Packeteer, PLX Technology, Rogers Wireless, Secure Computing, Stratos Global, Transcend Services, Verilink, X-Rite and Xilinx.

Satisfactory* figures were posted by Aspect Comms (back in the black), Brooktrout (back in the black), Ceridian, Cypress Semiconductor, DoubleClick (back in the black), Eleco, Embarcadero Technologies, Equifax, Excel Technology, FileNet, IBM, InfoUSA, Iona, Microchip Technology, Molex, Motorola, NetScout Systems (back in the black - just), NetSolve (back in the black), Nokia, PanAmSat, Philips Electronics (back in the black), Plantronics, Polycom, QLogic, RadiSys (back in the black), RF Monolithics, Rogers, RSA Security (back in the black), Samsung, SAP, SAP Integration AG, SS&C Technologies, Syntel, Tellabs, Telmex, TSYS and Wipro.

Mediocre* returns came from ADP, Cerner, Concord Comms, IDT (back in the black), ITG, Lam Research (but back in the black), Mercury Computer Systems, PMC-Sierra, Rambus, Supertex, Teletouch Comms and Unisys; while very poor results* came from Audiovox, CellStar and CTG.

Losses* were posted by Aetrium, AMD, ASML Holding NV, Atmel, Ault, Broadcom, Cadence Design Systems, Celeritek, CNET Networks, CyberSource, Evans & Sutherland, Fairchild Semiconductors, Hughes Electronics, Informatica, Interland, Iomega, LeCroy, Liberate Technologies, MIPS Technologies, Monolithic Systems Technology, Nanya Technology, Netflix, NetPrise, NMS Comms, Novellus Systems, Paradyne, Persistence Software, Pixelworks, Plumtree Software, Powerwave Technologies, Redback Networks, Rogers Comms, S&T System Integration & Technology Distribution AG, SBS Technologies, Siebel Systems, SIFY, Silicon Image, SofTech, Sun Microsystems, Tellium, Teradyne, Transmeta, USA Technologies, US Wireless Data, Visual Networks, Zarlink and Zhone.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for Brooktrout, Credence Systems, Informatica and SonicWALL; analyst downgrades for Avid Technology, Broadcom and RSA Security; share offerings from Ibis Technology and SupportSoft; share buy-back announcements from Brooktrout and NTT; shareholders rights plans from Actel; positive results/profit warnings from C-Cor.net, Cadence Design Systems, Nextel Comms, SAP and Sega; negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from BindView, Group 1 Software, MetaSolv, Nokia, Qualstar, Transmeta and Ultimate Electronics; rights/bond issues from Getronics (EUR100 million) and XO Comms; and a very good IPO from Wolfson Microelectronics. Additionally, Qwest Comms disclosed its re-stated numbers for 2000 through 2002.

Locally

Beget (-23.1%)
Cycad (-50%)

CS Holdings (+26.4%)
Edutech (+20%)
Global Technology (-40%)
Idion (+21.7%)
Maxtec (-25%)
MGX (-40%)
Trematon (+21.1%)
Vesta (+40%)

Internationally

Arel Comms & Software (+54.1%)
Aspect Comms (+44.2%)
Brooktrout (+59.8%)
ClickSoftware Technologies (+39.8%)
DA Consulting Group (+66.7%)
Daisytek (-40%)
DDD Group (+51.2%)
ID Data (+43.8%)
InfoNow (+54.4%)
RadView Software (+76.8%)

In terms of indices, Nasdaq was down 0.002% and the JSE up 3.9% for the week.

Groupe Bull SA, the French IT vendor, has been the centre of many controversies over the last 30+ years. The last few weeks have seen it at loggerheads with the European Commission (EC) over its failure to repay the recent loan it received from the French government in contravention of EC rules and missed deadlines.

The French government has bailed out Bull on numerous occasions in the past. Bull is trying to put together a re-financing deal that would allow the company to extricate itself from the current impasse with the EC. It seems as if two of its shareholders, France Telecom and NEC, have been solicited in this regard.

* NB

Guidelines for the categorisation of results is as follows and is always in comparison with the equivalent period for the previous year; pro forma numbers are ignored (the terminology may vary slightly from country to country).

* Excellent: Both revenue and net income growth is in excess of 50%.

* Very Good: Both revenue and net income growth is in excess of 25%

* Good: Both revenue and net income growth is in excess of 10%.

* Satisfactory: Revenue is within 10% of previous year and net income is up.

* Mediocre: Either revenue and/or net income is down.

* Very poor: Net income is less than 1% of revenue.